Robin's Reckoning
"Robin's Reckoning" is the two-part fifty-first and fifty-third episodes of . They first aired on February 7 and 14, 1993. The episodes depict the origin of Robin (Dick Grayson). A mobster named Tony Zucco, who killed Robin's parents, returns. Batman refuses to allow Dick Grayson to use the persona of Robin to apprehend him. Batman launches an investigation, searching for Zucco, which is paralleled by Robin's own investigation, unbeknownst to the Dark Knight. As the search narrows to an abandoned theme park, a series of flashbacks tell Robin's origin story and how he came to live with Bruce Wayne. Plot Part I discovers Tony Zucco has returned to Gotham for the first time in years.]] During a stakeout at a construction site, Batman and Robin catch a gang of mobsters trying to sabotage an incomplete building in order to extort money from a wealthy architect. The dynamic duo manages to beat the gang but most of them escape. Fortunately, Batman catches one and demands an explanation and the name of his boss. The criminal refuses to speak to him or the police, but when Batman shows he's not going to save him unless he gets the information he wants, the criminal blurts out the name "Billy Marrin". Robin grills the man for more information but Batman tells him to let it go and sends him to get the batmobile. Robin does as told leaving Batman to get the information himself. When they return home, Robin is left wondering who Marrin really is, but Batman insists that Robin stay out of this one: he works alone for the time being. Following Batman's departure, Robin and Alfred Pennyworth use the Batcave's criminal database to determine the real identity of the crime mob boss. To his shock, Robin discovers that Marrin is really an alias for Tony Zucco, a man he crossed paths with nearly nine years ago in an event that changed his life... :As a young child, Dick Grayson was in a popular circus acrobat trio with his parents, "The Flying Graysons". After finishing practice, Dick overhears the ringmaster Mr. Haley refusing to pay a young Tony Zucco for "protection". Zucco leaves telling him that he'll regret his decision. arranges for a fateful "accident".]] :''While preparing for a Wayne Charity convention in Gotham, Zucco partially saws through a trapeze rope to be used in the Graysons act. When the show starts Dick notices Zucco leaving the tent but his parents don't give him a chance to warn them and they start up their act. During a portion of the trapeze act, a trick involving both his parents on the same trapeze is performed and Dick watches from a platform as the rope snaps and his parents, known for performing without a net, plummet to their deaths in front of his eyes. :''Upon hearing of Dick's telling of what he saw, Jim Gordon fears that he will have no place to go, as he is a material witness. Bruce Wayne, who is in the audience, takes pity on the boy, as they are both the orphaned sons of parents murdered in their presence and takes young Dick into his custody. :''Bruce gives Dick his old room and tells him that he'll always have a home there. Robin seethes over Batman taking Zucco away from him and thereby robbing him of his revenge. Meanwhile, Batman searches for Zucco remembering what he did to his young partner and reminisces his first search... :''Although he is safe with Bruce Wayne, Dick is lonely, and the general awkwardness of the situation, being left in a large mansion with Alfred as a primary caretaker, makes him uncomfortable. :''After participating in an illegal gambling game and later revealing himself to be Batman, Batman tracks down Zucco at his uncle Arnold Stromwell's mansion. Stromwell refuses to give up Zucco but after Batman leaves berates his nephew for his stupidity and rashness in murdering the Graysons thereby causing Batman to turn his attention to them. and Dick share their grief.]]Their argument is short-lived as the guards detect Batman on the property. :''Zucco tries to run over Batman with his car but Batman evades injury. Unfortunately, Zucco is able to evade his grasp, while Batman feels haunted for not catching the Graysons' killer. As he returns to the Batcave, Alfred reminds him that Dick is feeling unloved and scared, which prompts Bruce to realize he must spend more time with him. He later comforts the boy and tries to make him feel better, but Dick breaks down in tears and explains that he saw Zucco before the murder, thus making him responsible. Bruce points out he felt the same way when his parents died, but there was nothing either of them could have done. Sadly, the hurt never goes away. But he promises that it'll get better for Dick. After discovering the crook's identity and reliving the tragedy, Robin demands that Batman allow him to apprehend the man who murdered his parents. Batman refuses, but Robin sets out on his motorbike to find Zucco, while Alfred looks on in sorrow. Part II searches for his "old man".]] Batman tracks Tony Zucco while, secretly, Robin seeks to find Zucco to avenge his parents' death. However, Batman discovers that Robin is tracking him and shuts off his tracer. However, Robin decides that he'll just find Zucco himself, "just like I did before!" :''Following a number of days, Bruce and Dick bond very well. While they engage in a playful fencing match Alfred then tells Bruce that Jim Gordon is asking to talk to him. Gordon tells Bruce that he's very convinced that Zucco might skip town and if he escapes it may be for good. Dick hears this and decides to take matters into his own hands. :''After running away from Wayne Manor, he tries to track his parents' killer showing people his picture but not gaining very much success at first. However, while searching a run-down section of Gotham and avoiding Batman, who, unbeknownst to Dick, is also searching for Zucco, Dick rescues a prostitute being mugged by her pimp. Using his gymnastic skills he defeats the full-grown attacker, finishing by jumping to grab hold of a fire escape, avoiding the mugger's charge and allowing him to rush head-on into a wall, knocking him unconscious. The prostitute treats Dick to dinner at a diner. There, a waitress recognizes Tony Zucco and reveals that she's seen him coming from an abandoned building. :''Dick goes to the building and discovers that Zucco is desperately packing up to leave. Determined not to let him get away, Dick prepares to call the police but accidentally steps on a can and alerts Zucco to his presence. Zucco catches him before he can make the call, but Batman arrives. Zucco throws Dick into an aqueduct, forcing Batman to jump in after him, while he escapes Gotham. reveals his true identity to Dick.]] :''Batman rescues Dick before he can go over a waterfall and takes him to shore. Much to Dick's dismay, however, Zucco is gone. He screams at Batman demanding to know why he let Zucco go. Batman brings Dick back to the Batcave, and reveals himself to be Bruce Wayne. Seeing this, Alfred notes that Dick's "temporary" stay has become indefinite. Robin voices a warning to Zucco, proclaiming he, was "taught by the best", and he takes off on his motorcycle to continue the search. Going to the home of the captured extortionist, Ferris Dolan, Robin uses a phone tracer to obtain Zucco's address. However, the call worries an already stressed out Zucco. Upon hearing some small sounds in the ceiling he has a fit of paranoia, and fires a sub-machine gun repeatedly into it. Unfortunately, the noise was Batman, who falls through the weakened ceiling. Caught by surprise, he lands wrong and twists his knee. Zucco believes he has Batman but his weapon is now unloaded. Batman hurls a smoke bomb at Zucco and his thugs and manages to limp from the room. Hiding in the abandoned amusement park serving as Zucco's hideout, he barely has time to treat his wounds before being attacked by Zucco's pursuing henchmen. Though limping, he is able to pick off the thugs one-by-one through the heavy use of stealth. He eventually ends up fighting several thugs on the carousel and ties them to the horses. apprehends his family's murderer.]] Unfortunately, Zucco is still after Batman and insane from having to spend nine years of looking over his shoulder, he prepares to fire at the carrousel regardless of the fact he'll hit his men. However, before he can fire, Robin, still riding his motorcycle, crashes through the fence, rides straight at Zucco and, grabbing him by the collar, drags him behind the cycle to the end of a pier where he confronts Zucco. The two adversaries fight furiously, but Robin gains the upper hand and throws Zucco towards the edge of the pier. Robin remains at a loss at whether to kill Zucco or hand him to the police, his eyes almost bulging out in fury, but Batman arrives and tells him to stop. Robin snaps at him insisiting that Batman can't know know how he feels. Realizing who he has just said this to, Robin shows mercy and hands Zucco to Commissioner Gordon. As the police take Zucco into custody, Batman explains that he distanced Robin from the investigation, not because he felt Robin might kill Zucco, but because he didn't want Zucco to take anything more from Robin, especially not his own life. The two make amends, and go home. Continuity * Arnold Stromwell originally appeared as a falling crime boss in the episode "It's Never Too Late". Background information Home video releases * The Adventures of Batman & Robin: Robin (VHS) * * Batman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD) * Batman: Under the Red Hood (2DVD, Blu-ray only) Production inconsistencies * Joey Simmrin is credited as "Dick Grayson (Aged 10)" in part I, but as "Dick Grayson (Aged 9)" in Part II. * After flipping one of the gamblers over his shoulder, Batman's emblem can be seen with the yellow circle, which it did not have in the flashbacks. Trivia * This episode is based on the comics story from ''Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). The opening scene on the construction building may be a reference to Robin's face-off with Zucco at the end of that original story. * Part I earned the series an Emmy award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour). * Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have stated that this episode inspired a great part of their later successful comic Batman: Dark Victory. * The Grayson parents' deaths, according to producers, was originally far more graphic than what was shown in the episode. They would be shown swinging on the ropes, which would break, and they would fall to the ground as Dick watched from above, traumatized by what he had witnessed. Due to thoughts of scaring children, the scene was changed to show them leaping out of the frame, Dick staring in shock with horrified eyes, the frayed rope swinging back, and the audience gasping as the music came to a climax. In the , Bruce Timm thanked the network censors for giving them a list of what, at the time, he felt were ridiculously restrictive rules for that scene; in retrospect, he felt that it forced them to create a far more effective scene. * In a flashback, Jim Gordon appears as a detective with red hair, a reference to Gordon's appearance in Batman: Year One. Harvey Bullock also makes a minor cameo as a police officer. * At the beginning of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm there's a scene similar to when Tony Zucco drives his car at Batman, stating, "Now I got you, you lousy stinkin'—"and Batman leaps onto the car. Also, Bullock makes another cameo as a police officer in the flashback of Bruce's first attempt at crime-fighting. * Strangely, after the episode aired, a minor controversy about the scene where Batman (undercover) gambles with a bunch of hoods for information on Tony Zucco came up. Timm states that he and Paul Dini are still confused as to why censors were upset at the scene. * Bruce Timm often said that the scene where Dick says goodbye to his circus friends before leaving for Wayne Manor has made him cry several times. * Dick's design while in his circus costume is similar to that of the Golden-Age circus performer Dick Grayson and Astro Boy, particularly his white-pupiled eyes. * Originally, the second part of the story arc would include a flashback towards the end, involving Bruce make young Dick swear a candlelit oath to uphold the law if he would join him. There would also be a scene in which he appears in full Robin costume for the first time, but Timm and Paul Dini cut this for time constraints. Dini has often admitted that he wished they would have used more of "Young Robin" flashbacks to show his beginnings and growth into the teenage Robin of today. * Tony Zucco's voice is reminiscent of John Travolta's, quite possibly as a reference to the similarity in names between Zucco and Travolta's character in Grease, Danny Zuco. * According to the book Batman Animated, Batman's costume in the flashback sequence was a cross between the original Bob Kane design and the Batman: Year One design. * Near the end of Part II when Robin skids on his bike, the combination of the pose and the electricity coming off the motorcycle is very much reminiscent of a scene from Akira. * One of Zucco's thugs seen when they hear Batman on the roof resembles Carlos from "Two-Face". * The carousel music is the same tune used at the carnival in " Baby-Doll" and played by the Joker's balloon in the episode "World's Finest". Cast Uncredited appearances * John Grayson * Mick * Harvey Bullock Quotes * Part 1 * Part 2 Category:A to Z Category:Award-Winning Episodes Category:Batman: The Animated Series episodes